V3 


THE   COUNTRY   CHURCH 


to  say  that  the  present  political  program  of  social 
reform  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  demands  voiced  by 
the  farmers  and  laboring  men  during  the  period 
under  discussion. 

IV.  The  period  of  adjustment— 1892-1908. 

(A)  The  Grange. 

A  revival  in  grange  work  began  about  1890.  In 
New  England  the  order  had  had  a  slow  but  steady 
growth  from  the  beginning  and  had  not  been  swept 
into  the  excesses  of  1873-75.  The  social  and  edu- 
cational features  of  the  Grange  finally  made  their 
appeal  to  the  better  farmers,  and  in  the  Middle 
states  and  New  England  there  has  been  a  rather 
rapid  and  apparently  a  permanent  growth  in  num- 
bers and  influence.  The  successful  development  of 
grange  fire-insurance  and  of  the  cooperative  pur- 
chase of  supplies  has  had  something  to  do  with 
this  growth.  But  the  broad  platform  of  grange 
principles  has  proved  its  worth,  and  the  Grange  is 
stronger  today  than  ever  before  in  its  history.  It 
is  not  so  strong  as  it  should  be  in  the  South  and 
West,  but  it  is,  more  fully  than  any  other  associa- 
tion, a  national  farmers'  organization. 

(B)  Farmers'  clubs. 

We  saw  that  these  clubs  were  organized  freely 
during  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  In  Illinois, 
about  1873,  there  was  a  state  association  of  clubs. 
In  Michigan,  about  1893,  a  state  association  was 
formed,  and  it  was  found  that  there  were  several 
hundred  clubs  in  existence.  This  association  still 
exists.  In  most  states  numerous  clubs  exist,  but 
as  a  rule  have  no  organic  connection  with  other 
clubs. 

(G)  Farmers'  societies. 

One  of  the  first  means  of  bringing  farmers 
together  was  through  a  society  representing  some 
special  interest  in  agriculture.  As  the  business 
became  specialized,  these  societies  grew  in  numbers 
and  influence.  They  have  been  especially  proKfte 
during  the  past  twenty  years. 

Summary  of  the  period  (1892-1908). 

As  a  whole,  the  period  has  been  one  of  pros- 
perity for  the  farmers.  The  radical  agitations  of 
the  previous  period  have  not  been  repeated.  The 
value  of  associated  effort  has  been  fully  appre- 
ciated and  on  the  whole  well  utilized.  There  has 
been  an  adjustment  of  rural  public  opinion  to  more 
conservative  methods  of  reform. 

Conclusion. 

The  farmers  are  not  fully  organized ;  the  diffi- 
culties of  organization  are  real.  But  there  has 
been  during  all  these  years  a  vast  amount  of  coop- 
erative effort,  which  has  done  its  work  quietly. 
There  ought  to  be  a  representative  farmers'  organi- 
zation which  can  speak  for  the  rural  interests  of 
the  nation.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  Grange  will 
be  able  to  push  its  work  into  the  South  and  West, 
where  lies  the  future  of  agricultural  development, 
and  become  in  fact  the  great  farmers'  organization. 


I 
THIS   COUNTRY  CHURCH 


297 


By  George  Frederick  Wells 

■  The  churches  of  the  United  States  may  be  put 
into  three  general  classes — city,  town  and  country. 
City  churches  may  be  called  those  in  urban  centers 
of  20,000  or  more  people.  Town  or  suburban 
churches  exist  in  general  in  towns  ranging  from 
2,000  to  20,000  in  population. 

Definition  of  country  church. 

By  country  churches  we  mean  those  in  localities 
where  rural  conditions  persist  and  dominate.  Chapel 
churches  by  the  cross-roads  and  in  small  agricul- 
tural hamlets  are  country  churches.  Churches  in 
villages  which  may  have  small  manufactures,  high 
schools,  the  beginnings  of  wealth  and  a  good  degree 
of  social  selection,  are  country  churches.  It  is 
becoming  less  true  that  a  church  must  be  made  up 
of  farmers  in  order  to  belong  to  the  country  church 
class.  More  and  more  people  employed  in  cities 
and  towns  are  seeking  country  homes  and  the  open- 
hearted  cordiality  of  rural  worship.  On  the  other 
hand,  well-to-do  rural  people  are  bringing  their 
church  life  to  conform  to  the  town  or  urban  type. 
Many  country  churches  are  made  up  exclusively  of 
people  who  work  in  factories,  mines  and  quarries, 
or  who  engage  in  commercial  pursuits.  If  one  de- 
sires an  arbitrary  line  between  town  and  country 
churches,  he  may  place  in  the  latter  class  all 
churches  in  townships  of  2,000  or  fewer  inhabi- 
tants. He  will  then,  probably,  include  as  many 
churches  of  the  town  type  as  he  excludes  these 
typically  rural.  The  purposes  of  this  article,  how- 
ever, lead  us  to  confine  our  attention  most  largely 
to  the  church  life  of  the  agricultural  people. 

The  first  stage  of  rural  society. 

Agricultural  society  in  the  United  States  has 
had  three  stages  or  forms.  These  must  be  noticed 
before  we  can  understand  the  conditions  of  the 
churches  of  rural  inhabitants.  They  become  evi- 
dent to  us  when  we  look  at  rural  life  from  the 
standpoint  of  its  leading  institutions.  The  first  of 
these  tendencies  or  forms  is  that  of  unity  or  sol- 
idarity. In  Europe  and  the  eastern  world,  the 
village  community  has  stood  for  this  social  type, 
but  in  America  the  old  New  England  town  is  its 
best  example. 

Wherever  the  religious,  economic,  educational 
and  political  interests  of  the  people  are  all  repre- 
sented in  a  single  organization,  such  as  the  village 
or  church  community  in  Puritan  society,  there  we 
find  true  social  solidarity.  Every  neighborhood  by 
itself  is  an  empire.  Every  inhabitant  is  both  a 
church  member  and  a  citizen,  and  one  because  he 
is  the  other.  With  his  neighbors,  he  shares  in  com- 
parative equality  the  products  of  the  soil  and 
the  means  of  knowledge  and  personal  enjoyment. 
Though  this  type  of  organized  society  never  in  all 
its  dimensions  prevailed  in  the  early  colonies  of 
the  South,  nor  in  the  society  that  was  transplanted 
in  the  middle  West  from  France,  nevertheless  the 
moral  strength  of  this  particular  social  form  has 
given  it  such  influence  as  easily  to  result  in  a  typ< , 


2D8 


THE   COUNTRY   CHURCH 


There  are  yet  remaining  in  the  rural  parts  of  the 
eastern  states  many  communities  that  still  pre- 
serve many  of  the  dimensions  of  social  solidarity. 

The  stage  of  diversity  in  rural  society. 

The  agricultural  society  of  America,  however, 
has  been  formed  from  more  than  one  European 
nation  and  effected  by  more  than  one  religious  per- 
suasion and  social  system.  Not  only  England,  but 
France,  Holland,  Spain,  and  even  Africa,  have  had 
to  make  their  contributions.  The  products  of  the 
intellectual  renaissance-  and  the  religious  and 
moral  reformation  were  transplanted  with  the 
people  upon  the  hitherto  unfilled  soil.  So  the  sec- 
ond tendency,  that  of  social  diversity  and  compe- 
tition presented  itself  in  the  life  of  the  new  nation. 
Nothing  else  could  happen  when  a  pure  democracy 
like  that  formed  in  the  Mayflower,  when  the 
humblest  servant  signed  the  sacred  compact  of 
state,  mingled  with  the  money-loving  aristocracy 
from  the  South,  where  the  gentleman  ruled  and 
the  enslaved  African  and  the  white  outcasts  from 
Old  World  slums  and  prisons  did  the  work. 

It  has  taken  decades  for  religious  and  social  tol- 
erance— first  rooted  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island — 
to  spread  its  mantle  of  charity,  which  even  now  is 
often  threadbare  and  torn,  across  the  contentious 
colonies  and  their  proud  successors.  The  peaceful 
Quakers  of  Pennsylvania  met  with  persecution 
from  both  high  church  ecclesiastics  and  liberty- 
loving  Puritans  in  the  new  world  as  well  as  in  the 
old.  In  fact,  the  period  of  national  growth  had 
hardly  commenced  before  America  had  become  a 
great  experiment  station  where  contending  creeds 
and  social  customs  were  tested  in  the  crucible  of 
life  for  their  real  merit. 

What  is  the  surprise,  then,  that  early  in  the 
nineteenth  century  the  former  solidarity  of  the 
town  was  broken  and  instead  of  one  town  church — 
which  was  in  reality  the  town  itself — there  were 
rival  societies,  and  in  the  place  of  the  common 
village  school  a  township  surveyed  into  twelve  or 
more  school  districts?  This  striking  breaking  up 
of  working  social  forces  seemed  to  be  a  necessary 
step  in  the  education  of  a  new  national  character. 
Thus  the  country  churches  have  tried  to  do  their 
work  under  the  condition  of  a  pronounced  social 
disintegration.  We  trust  that  the  time  has  passed 
when  we  need  to  engage  in  "reforming  the  Refor- 
mation, protesting  against  Protestantism,  purify- 
ing Puritanism,  dissenting  against  dissent,  and 
dividing,  subdividing  and  re-dividing  down  to  the 
inorganic  dust  of  individuality  itself." 

Tlie  federal  period  of  the  country  town. 

The  third  period  of  the  country  town  is  that  of 
federation.  This  tendency  is  largely  the  product 
of  the  monopolistic  habit  of  the  age.  Even  though 
the  tendency  toward  social  diversity  dawned  in 
America  with  the  factory  system  of  manufacture, 
it  is  at  last  having  to  give  place.  Every  phase  of 
agricultural  life  is  becoming  wrought  in  the  indus- 
trial mold.  Combination  for  efficiency  is  the  present 
watchword.  Even  the  development  of  handicrafts— 
that  thrust  against  the  prevailing  system — is  free 


from  neither  the  spirit  nor  the  method  of  industrial 
monopoly.  The  domains  of  the  farmer,  with  the 
help  of  farm  machinery,  cover  the  acres  of  three 
or  four — or  in  the  West,  a  hundred — farmers  of 
decades  past.  The  graded  school  monopolizes  the 
educational  interest  of  larger  territories  than  ever 
before.  The  Sunday  school,  the  young  people's 
societies  and  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion movements  have  blazed  the  trail  for  the  effec- 
tive federation  of  all  religious  organizations.  The 
period  of  practical  unification  of  social  and  relig- 
ious interests  has  only  just  begun. 

Rural  exodus  and  urban  growth. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  notice  in  detail  the 
remarkable  urban  growth  of  the  last  century. 
With  Paris  and  London  increasing  four-fold,  New 
York  more  than  multiplying  its  population  by  fifty 
in  the  century  following  1790,  Chicago  gaining 
2,000,000  people  in  the  life-time  of  its  first  native 
white  voter,  the  country,  as  a  whole,  gaining,  for 
cities  of  8,000  or  more,  from  3  per  cent  to  more 
than  33  per  cent,  and  with  fifteen  states  having  a 
majority  of  city  dwellers,  the  fact  is  sufficiently 
evident.  (Page  113.)  We  wish  to  learn  the  effect 
of  this  urban  growth  upon  the  country  church. 
This  condition  constitutes  the  fundamental  dimen- 
sion of  the  problem  of  the  country  church. 

The  rural  exodus  has  affected  the  country  church 
both  directly  and  indirectly.  Large  numbers  of 
towns  have  lost  so  much  in  both  people  and  wealth 
that  the  churches,  if  they  have  not  been  trans- 
planted to  urban  or  western  soil,  have  had  to  die. 
Many  small  towns  that  have  been  incapable  of 
developing  other  than  agricultural  industries  have 
torn  down  or  closed  half  their  churches.  An  exces- 
sive multiplication  of  denominations  is  responsible 
for  a  good  share  of  this  decadence. 

The  rural  exodus  has  caused  a  qualitative  as  well 
as  a  quantitative  change  in  rural  society.  The 
most  enterprising  and  intelligent  people  have  mi- 
grated only  to  have  their  places  sometimes,  but  not 
always,  filled  by  the  incoming  foreigners  from 
across  the  Canadian  borders  or  from  southern 
Europe.  There  has  also  been  a  spiritual  change — a 
change  in  ideal.  Excepting  where  extreme  isola- 
tion  reigns  with  its  degenerating  influences,  the 
spirit  of  the  city  has  baptized  the  country  town 
with  a  profound  economic  and  intellectual  quick- 
ening. Men's  ambitions  are  more  social.  Country 
people,  even,  have  a  new  world  view.  The  materi- 
alism of  today  has  been  accompanied  by  the 
demand  and,  better  still,  the  reality,  of  an  unprece- 
dented ethical  strength  and  integrity.  It  is  true 
that  in  the  country  sections  of  America,  evangeli- 
cal churches  and  church  membership  have  increased 
faster  than  the  general  increase  of  inhabitants. 
Startling  conditions  of  irreligion  and  immorality 
are  only  local  and  largely  due  to  immigration  or 
unbalanced  conditions  of  life.  The  acute  sense 
which  we  have  today  of  the  urgency  of  the  spirit- 
ual and  social  needs  and  perils  of  rural  life  is  a 
hopeful  indication,  for  it  shows  that  we  are  rais- 
ing the  standards.  Urban  growth  from  rural 
sources  and  rural  gains  from  urban  sources  have 


THE   COUNTRY   CHURCH 


299 


brought  great  changes  and  sometimes  fatal  stresses, 
but,  on  the  whole,  it  has  not  meant  decline.  The 
nation,  on  its  rural  base,  was  never  so  strong  as 
now. 

Religious  communism,  in  country  towns. 

Since  the  country  church  is  concerned  with  all 
the  religious  interests  of  agricultural  society  we 
cannot  omit  some  notice  of  the  communistic  socie- 
ties that  nourished  a  few  years  ago  in  several 
country  places.  These  societies  were  usually  pre- 
eminently religious,  and  when  at  their  best  they 
commanded  about  as  much  attention  proportion- 
ately as  the  social  settlements  now  hold  in  the 
needy  portions  of  the  cities. 

The  communistic  societies  would  have  meant 
more  had  they  been  the  natural  product  of  our  own 
conditions.  Instead,  they  were  the  by-products  of 
other  conditions  asking  for  our  advantages  and 
patronage.  The  Shakers,  a  class  of  celibate  Quak- 
ers, the  first  and  most  successful  American  com- 
munists, were  transplanted  from  England  in  1774, 
and  they  still  persist.  The  Rappites  came  to  Penn- 
sylvania from  Wiirtemberg,  Germany,  in  1805, 
and  in  1817  the  Separatists  of  Zoar  came  to  Ohio 
from  the  same  country,  and  also  because  of  reli- 
gious persecution.  The  Inspirationists  came  from 
south  Germany  to  a  town  near  Buffalo,  and  in  1755 
they  formed  the  seven  rural  Amana  communities  in 
Iowa.  All  of  these  German  communists  were  peas- 
ant mystics. 

The  French  influence  in  agricultural  communism, 
though  foremost  in  the  theoretical  literature  of 
the  subject,  brought  forth  no  marked  material 
results.  Mr.  J.  H.  Noyes,  founder  of  the  Oneida 
and  Wallingsford  communities  of  short  and  unsa- 
vory record,  was  a  native  of  New  England.  As 
to  extent,  the  Shakers  at  their  best  had  eighteen 
communities  and  perhaps  five  thousand  adherents. 
Their  greatest  success  was  economic,  for  they  had 
not  long  existed  in  organized  form  before  the  value 
of  their  property  had  reached  the  million-dollar 
mark.  Other  communistic  sects  have  numbered 
their  followers  in  the  hundreds  and  sometimes  in 
the  thousands,  and  often  held  property  valued  in 
the  millions.  But  now  all  forms  of  communism 
are  rapidly  declining. 

The  message  of  communism  is  that  of  warning. 
Its  fatal  mistake  has  been  that  of  trying  to  remedy 
certain  extreme  conditions  by  means  that  were 
themselves  extreme.  Nevertheless,  it  has  had  a 
useful  mission.  Nordhoff  says,1  "But  to  be  fairly 
judged,  the  communistic  life,  as  I  have  seen  and 
tried  to  report  it,  must  be  compared  with  that  of 
the  mechanic  and  laborer  of  the  cities,  and  of  the 
farmer  in  the  country,  and  when  thus  brought  in 
judgment  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  it  is  in 
many  ways — in  almost  all  ways — a  higher  and  a 
better  life."  Religious  communism  in  the  country 
towns  of  America  has  shown  the  importance  of 
religion,  morality  and  economic  brotherhood — 
these  three  in  proper  relation — and  thus  it  has 
helped  to  develop  a  broader  standard  of  rural  well- 
being. 

1  Communistic  Societies,  1875,  p.  406. 


The  country  church  and  missionary  enterprise. 

The  recent  writings  on  the  country  church  ques- 
tion are  so  largely  either  pure  theory  or  harsh 
criticism  that  we  have  been  inclined  to  forget  one 
leading  phase  of  the  subject.  We  need  to  know, 
that  in  fifty  years,  while  so  many  country  churches 
in  older  and  remote  sections  have  died,  volumes  of 
romantic  missionary  history  have  been  written. 
These  are  about  the  carrying  of  the  church  across 
the  plains  and  mountains  to  the  frontiers  of  the 
far  West,  or  across  the  gulf  of  differing  customs 
and  languages  to  the  foreigners  who  are  brought 
to  our  own  villages  from  foreign  shores.  If  we  are 
disturbed  by  the  problems  of  religious  indifference 
and  moral  destitution  which  face  the  average  rural 
community,  let  us  notice  the  sterling  missionary 
enterprise  of  Sunday-school  extension  and  home- 
missionary  evangelism  that  is  organizing  in  America 
scores  of  new  country  churches  every  month. 

The  value  of  the  fact  of  territorial  expansion  is 
the  knowledge  that  rural  needs  are  not  forgotten 
by  the  church  itself.  This  rapid  spread  of  the 
country  church  calls  us  especially  to  regard  the 
quality  of  the  work.  That  spirit  of  the  age  which 
would  lead  us  to  pass  unheeded  the  leaven  of  evan- 
gelism which  is  working,  or  should  work,  in  rural 
society  is  both  prejudicial  and  unscientific.  Evan- 
gelism properly  understood  and  applied  through 
the  methods  of  organization,  instruction,  preaching 
or  devotion,  as  the  local  circumstances  may 
require,  is  the  most  potent  and  persistent  socializ- 
ing and  spiritualizing  force  of  which  the  church 
can  avail  itself.  Evangelism  needs  to  be  supple- 
mented and  balanced  by  such  a  broad  and  syste- 
matic direction  of  social  duties  and  conditions  so 
that  every  social  force  shall  be  permanently  con- 
served and  increased. 

The  religious  status  of  the  rural  people. 

Before  taking  up  the  specific  problems  of  the 
country  church,  we  want  an  estimate  of  the  spirit- 
ual status  of  the  rural  people.  In  reaching  such 
a  judgment,  we  must  record  both  declension  and 
improvement.  The  American  farmer  was  at  one 
time  preeminently  religious.  Whether  he  lived  as 
the  child  of  the  Puritan  theocracy  or  as  the  patron 
of  early  Virginian  aristocracy,  he  tilled  the  soil  in 
order  that  he  might  worship  God  and  rear  his  chil- 
dren in  the  fear  of  the  Lord.  Whether  he  cleared 
the  forests  under  Penn,  the  patriarch  of  piety, 
or  planted  his  windmills  by  the  steeples  of  New 
Amsterdam,  his  fireside  was  his  synagogue  and  his 
temple  the  house  of  prayer. 

The  time  has  been  when,  in  some  select  neigh- 
borhoods, at  least,  the  family  that  never  attended 
chm*ch  was  the  great  exception,  so  that  the  wor- 
ship at  the  sanctuary  was  the  worship  of  the  whole 
community.  Now,  the  place  of  the  country  church 
is  not  undisputed,  even  though  the  church  itself 
exists.  The  decline  has  been  in  the  religiousness  of 
the  personal  character.  Though  the  character  ideal 
was  never  before  so  high  and  large,  and  the  means 
of  reaching  it  so  numerous,  yet  never  before  was 
it  so  much  neglected  and  the  church  as  a  means  t<> 
it  so  often  forgotten.   The  problem  now  is,  not  so 


300 


THE   COUNTRY   CHURCH 


much  to  get  churches  for  the  people  as  to  get  the 
people  to  church,  to  spiritualize,  through  a  stronger- 
church,  a  society  that  has  stronger  elements. 
Though  the  agricultural  classes  are  far  in  the  rear 
of  their  city  neighbors  in  commercial  organization, 
they  need  to  know  that  a  still  greater  lack  is  of 
religious  interest  and  ethical  enterprise. 

It  is  not  sufficient  to  treat  the  country  church, 
as  in  our  previous  paragraphs,  simply  from  the 
standpoint  of  social  history.  This  has  had,  how- 
ever, the  practical  value  of  showing  the  present 
resources  and  needs  of  the  country  church.  It  has 
cleared  the  way  for  a  more  adequate  discussion  of 
the  means  and  ends  of  the  actual  problems. 

A  problem  in  reality. 

The  first  problem  to  be  considered  is  the  question 
of  life.  In  a  sense,  it  includes  every  practical  con- 
cern within  the  bounds  of  the  subject.  We  are 
faced  by  the  reality  that  the  country  church  is 
lost.  It  has  become  "sidetracked."  It  has  too  far 
ceased  to  hold  its  normal  vital  relationship  to  the 
living  interests  of  the  community.  It  has  ceased  to 
exercise  its  function  as  the  throbbing  heart-center 
of  the  spiritual  well-being  of  the  country  town.  It 
has  too  largely  become  divorced  from  its  appointed 
mission  of  the  moral  and  religious  leadership  of 
rural  society.  In  some  instances,  the  country 
church  has  stooped  to  begging  for  the  social  and 
financial  patronage  of  the  community,  or  a  part  of 
it,  forgetting  its  obligation  of  spiritual  service  to 
an  undivided  unit. 

Sometimes,  in  reaching  out  in  special  acts  of 
charitable,  intellectual  or  esthetic  help,  it  has  gone 
too  far  and  allowed  a  secondary  mission  to  dis- 
place a  primary  purpose.  Often  the  churches  have 
been  carried  away  by  some  particular  experience 
of  religious  feeling  or  by  over-devotion  to  single 
truths,  and  have  then  been  crippled  by  consuming 
fanaticism  or  withering  dogma.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  mention  every  dimension  of  this  problem  in 
reality.  The  practical  need  is  for  a  knowledge  of 
the  problem,  a  proper  sense  of  values,  and  a  will 
to  remedy  the  difficulty.  Every  tiller  of  the  soil 
and  every  intelligent  and  responsible  member  of 
rural  society  should  find  the  home  of  his  higher  life 
in  a  living  church ;  and  every  country  church 
should  engage  itself  in  the  religious  and  moral 
care  of  every  man  within  its  reach. 

The  federal  principle  in  practice. 

We  have  found  ourselves  in  the  federal  stage  of 
rural  society.  At  least,  we  are  in  the  day  of  the 
federal  ideal.  Federation  in  civil  government,  in 
commercial  and  industrial  affairs,  and  in  educa- 
tion has  outstripped  the  practice  of  the  same  prin- 
ciple in  the  church.  Of  course,  personal  gain  is 
often  the  motive  of  monopoly  in  business  ;  federal 
government  is  to  some  extent  the  price  of  protec- 
tion as  well  as  one  of  the  moral  products  of  the 
church ;  and  while  division  in  the  church  has  come 
through  an  invaluable  social  evolution  the  con- 
tinuance of  this  division  in  the  small  town  is  largely 
the  consequence  of  small  intelligence  for  which 
the  church  is  not  solely  responsible. 


Before  discussing  federation  as  applied  in  country 
churches  we  must  be  sure  of  our  meanings.  The 
country  town  is  only  indirectly  concerned  with  the 
constitutional  uniting  of  entire  denominations.  This 
does  not  always  lessen  the  number  of  local  churches. 
In  the  second  place,  every  community  of  more  than 
one  church  ought  to  practice  moral  union.  They 
should  work  together  in  moral  reform,  and  for 
social  and  religious  betterment.  The  most  impor- 
tant aspect  of  federation  is  that  which  reduces  the 
number  of  local  churches  by  the  cooperation,  amal- 
gamation or  organic  union  of  two  or  more  of 
them.  Local  church  federation  at  its  best  is  only 
a  means  to  an  end.  It  should  be  a  transitional  pro- 
cess leading  to  single  churches.  Experimental  fed- 
erations, though  profitable,  would  be  better  still  if 
they  proceeded  directly  to  affiliation  with  a  single 
denomination. 

We  have  only  just  begun  to  apply  the  methods 
of  social  economy  to  country  church  conditions. 
Some  useful  conclusions  have  so  soon  resulted,  how- 
ever. For  instance,  we  have  learned  the  economic 
motives  for  observing  the  federal  principle  :  (1)  The 
maintenance  of  separate  churches  in  the  same 
community,  unless  necessitated  by  distance  or  by 
some  absolute  social  unlikeness,  tends  toward  fi- 
nancial waste.  It  is  unfortunate  that  in  three- 
fourths  of  the  cases  of  federation  in  the  country 
towns  it  has  not  come  until  compelled  by  economic 
necessity.  A  church  fails  morally,  as  a  rule,  when 
it  is  consuming  unproductive  capital.  (2)  Local 
sectarianism  interferes  seriously  with  the  supply 
and  use  of  the  clergy.  Ministers  will  no  longer 
easily  consent  to  work  underpaid,  to  outrival  neigh- 
boring churches.  The  scarcity  of  ministers  tends 
to  make  such  competition  impossible.  (3)  Local 
sectarianism  violates  the  principle  of  spiritual  ser- 
vice. The  local  church  lives  to  minister  to  the 
whole  community,  not  to  pander  to  a  choice  con- 
stituency. (4)  There  is  an  educational  advantage 
with  federation.  Sectarian  phases  of  truth,  as 
prism  colors,  are  blended  into  the  full  white  light 
of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  limitations  to  the 
organic  application  of  the  federal  principles :  (1) 
If  federation  is  utilized  primarily  in  response  to 
economic  or  popular  demands,  there  is  apt  to  be  a 
lessening  of  respect  for  the  church  and  to  secure 
new  members  for  the  church  becomes  difficult.  The 
practice  of  this  principle  calls  for  spiritual  as  well 
as  for  social  interest.  (2)  Transitional  federations, 
where  churches  for  a  time  have  to  relate  them- 
selves to  different  denominational  organizations, 
suffer  from  too  much  friction.  (3)  Union,  and  some- 
times federated  churches,  like  other  single  churches, 
miss  certain  advantages  of  those  working  side  by 
side.  These  are  the  impetus  of  healthy  rivalry, 
the  natural  response  of  different  people  to  particu- 
lar denominational  types,  and  the  power  of  respon- 
sibility through  more  organization  to  draw  and 
educate.  Church  federation,  however,  in  spite  of 
its  limitations,  points  the  way  of  the  greatest 
reform  that  is  needed  by  the  country  churches. 
Intelligent  farmers,  country  educators  and  busi- 
ness men,  as  well  as  the  ministers,  should  inform 


THE   COUNTRY  CHURCH 


301 


themselves  of  the  needs  and  methods  of  this  very 
work  that  they  may  be  prepared  for  the  indispen- 
sible  service  of  leadership. 

The  social  problem  of  the  rural  clergy. 

The  problem  of  sectarian  division  in  country 
towns  is  hardly  more  vital  than  that  concerning 
the  rural  clergy.  The  case  may  be  fairly  set  before 
us  by  means  of  a  recent  investigation  involving 
629  country  ministers  in  nine  different  states  out- 
side of  New  England.  The  data  should  be  repre- 
sentative, since  it  comes  from  states  as  widely 
distributed  as  New  York,  Ohio,  Virginia  and 
Minnesota.  The  study  was  made  by  men  who  have 
the  country  church  problem  at  heart,  who  have 
had  direct  and  sympathetic  relations  with  the 
ministers,  and  who  are  trained  to  speak  without 
bias.  The  clergymen  are  reported  as  being  genially 
disposed,  consecrated,  faithful,  self-sacrificing, 
educated,  and  to  some  extent  ambitious,  and  con- 
sidered as  leaders.  In  some  minor  sections  none 
seem  to  have  been  to  the  theological  seminary  and 
but  few  to  college,  but,  as  a  rule,  a  majority  of  at 
least  60  per  cent  are  both  college  and  seminary 
men. 

From  25  to  75  per  cent  of  the  men  are  cramped 
and  deficient  from  lack  of  adequate  financial  sup- 
port. A  majority  of  the  reports  indicate  that  at 
least  75  per  cent  are  thus  hindered.  More  than  80 
per  cent  of  the  ministers  seem  to  place  denomina- 
tional before  church  or  religious  interests,  more 
than  70  per  cent  church  interests  before  those  of 
the  community,  and  a  similar  majority  to  put  com- 
munity before  larger  world  interests.  With  this 
striking  tendency  to  a  limited  view-point,  we  are 
not  surprised  to  find  90  per  cent  of  300  of  these 
ministers  reported  as  apparently  lacking  in  per- 
sonal religious  leadership,  and  a  majority  of  the 
remaining  ministers  as  thus  lacking. 

A  majority  of  the  rural  clergymen — they  being 
so  well  educated  and  with  so  many  advantages  of 
service  and  breadth  placed  before  them — are  con- 
sidered as  largely  to  blame  for  their  own  deficien- 
cies. On  the  whole,  an  encouraging  improvement 
is  observed  in  the  rural  clergy  in  the  last  ten 
years.  The  problem  of  the  rural  clergyman  seems 
to  be  essentially  social.  He  rusts  out  rather  than 
wears  out.  He  stagnates  with  his  comparative 
isolation.  He  is  more  influenced  by  his  parish  than 
capable  of  reacting  upon  his  parish.  One  particu- 
lar need  of  the  rural  clergy  is  special  training  for 
meeting  the  specific  conditions  of  country  life.  In 
too  many  instances,  the  rural  minister  ceases  to 
become  the  intellectual  and  personal  superior  of 
the  average  of  his  parish. 

A  most  encouraging  recent  development  is  the 
addition  of  courses  on  rural  social  and  religious 
problems  to  the  curricula  of  theological  seminaries. 
In  this  regard,  however,  the  agricultural  college  is 
still  the  leader  of  the  theological  seminary.  The 
problem  of  the  deficiency  in  numbers  of  rural  min- 
isters will  tend  to  disappear  as  the  agricultural 
people  take  interest  and  pride  in  their  churches  as 
the  monitors  of  their  own  spiritual  welfare,  and 
the  ministers,  themselves,  learn  better  the  lessons 


of  the  cooperation  of  the  church  with  other  relig- 
ious and  social  enterprises,  of  local  church  federa- 
tion, and  of  personal  breadth  and  leadership. 

The  country  church  and  social  service. 

The  country  church  sometimes  fails  on  the  point 
of  social  service.  This  is  so  even  though  social 
service  is  never  the  primary  function  of  the  church. 
There  are  five  principles  which  seem  to  be  observed 
in  the  successful  social  service  of  the  country 
church.  The  first  is  the  principle  of  vitality.  By 
this  is  not  meant  that  all  social  work  is  to  serve 
evangelistic  ends,  but  that  the  church  should, 
whatever  its  method,  maintain  its  spiritual  integ- 
rity. The  church  fails  in  reality  when  it  ceases  to 
inspire.  The  second  principle  is  that  of  service. 
The  giving  church,  not  the  drawing  church,  grows. 
Unworthy  "  commercialism "  in  the  church  ceases 
wherever  this  principle  dominates. 

Cooperation  is  the  third  social  principle.  The 
church  should  never  do  what  a  club  could  do  as  well. 
The  country  church,  especially,  must  cooperate  with 
the  homes  that  they  may  be  led  to  perform  their 
own  religious  and  moral  functions.  The  school  and 
the  grange  are  the  strongest  when  they  are  in  the 
closest  social  touch  with  the  church.  The  fourth 
is  the  principle  of  substitution.  For  the  church  by 
"institutional  work"  to  supplement  rural  society  on 
its  domestic,  educational,  industrial  or  amusemental 
sides  makes  the  church  a  social  center,  and  in  so 
far,  a  venture  toward  social  solidarity.  This  is  an 
advantage  only  as  it  helps  to  restore  these  various 
agencies.  The  country  church  may  become  a  social 
means,  by  substitution,  but  this  should  be  only 
temporary.  The  church  cannot  spiritualize  society 
by  yielding  spiritual  means  to  social  ends,  but 
rather  by  filling  social  agencies  with  spiritual  men. 

The  final  social  principle  is  that  of  unification. 
We  should  keep  to  the  few  primary  institutions 
rather  than  multiply  those  of  lesser  value.  And 
thus  the  whole  community  should  become  the  re- 
ciprocal subject  of  service.  Where  these  principles 
are  maintained  and  coordinated  according  to  local 
needs  and  possibilities,  the  more  social  service  by 
the  church,  the  better.  These  conditions  being  met, 
the  more  spiritual  a  church  is  the  more  social  it 
will  become.  Edward  Everett  Hale  is  right  in  more 
than  one  sense  in  saying  that  "any  church  which 
does  anything  is  an  '  institutional  church.' "  The 
active  country  church  today  is  usually  an  institu- 
tional church,  even  though  its  social-service  fea- 
tures are  neither  formal  nor  expensive.  The  ladies' 
aid  society,  the  boys'  club,  the  cradle  roll,  the 
church  lecture-course,  the  male  quartette,  the  mis- 
sion study  class,  the  parish  quarterly  or  monthly 
bulletin  and  the  church  magazine  club  are  common 
institutional  features  in  country  churches. 

One  typical  example  of  cooperation  in  religious 
and  social  service  is  in  the  mountain  town  of 
Lincoln,  Vermont.  Three  church  societies  unite  in 
what  is  called  the  Federated  Churches.  The  Ladies' 
Aid  and  Good  Templar's  Hall  is  virtually  the  parish 
house.  It  serves  as  the  home  of  the  grange,  the 
Good  Templar's  Lodge,  the  Grand  Army  Post,  the 
village   library,  the  church   prayer-meetings,  and 


302 


THE   COUNTRY   CHURCH 


all  the  social  entertainments  of  the  church  and 
community  that  are  consistent  with  the  moral 
standards  of  the  church.  One  of  the  most  remark- 
able instances  of  direct  social  service  by  the  church 
is  the  New  Hampshire  Country  Settlement  Associa- 
tion. It  has  its  Settlement  House  at  Danbury.  This 
institution  maintains  its  religious  services,  has  its 
district  nurse  for  the  care  of  the  sick  and  needy  in 
the  community,  and,  besides  its  social-  and  moral- 
reform  work  for  the  whole  state,  it  does  educational 
and  social-betterment  work  throughout  the  neigh- 
borhood. 

Country-church  architecture  today,  by  the  pres- 
ence of  kitchens,  dining-halls,  class  and  social 
rooms  in  the  church  itself,  where  there  is  no  parish 
house,  which  very  often  have,  in  addition,  the  gym- 
nasium, the  lecture-hall,  the  reading  and  bathrooms, 
even  in  country  towns,  is  teaching  christian  broth- 
erhood as  not  in  the  days  of  the  one-roomed  church 
and  the  prophet-preacher  of  God,  the  King. 

The  practical  problems  of  religion  and  theology. 

Religion  and  theology  cannot  be  omitted  from  a 
discussion  of  the  country-church  question.  It  is 
not  difficult  to  treat  in  a  strictly  practical  manner 
the  leading  religious  and  theological  problems 
which  arise,  for  each  of  these  has  a  social  bearing. 
Even  evangelism,  the  propagandism  of  the  religious 
aspects  of  the  church,  has  social  conditions  that 
are  as  fundamental  as  are  the  religious  conditions. 
The  country  church  has  a  social  problem  concern- 
ing evangelism  when  the  revival  is  used  by  one 
church  in  a  community  as  a  means  of  outdoing 
another  church.  The  church  has  a  similar  problem 
when  the  revival  is  used  to  take  the  place  of  the 
pastoral  function.  The  community  unit  is  always 
the  social  base  of  the  revival,  the  spiritual  regen- 
eration of  the  social  whole,  its  normal  end,  and  the 
means,  the  coordination  of  the  social  with  the  relig- 
ious conditions. 

Emotionalism,  that  problem  which  so  often 
arises  with  misdirected  evangelism,  is  largely 
occasioned  by  stress  upon  the  devotional  aspects  of 
religion  at  the  expense  of  social  and  educational 
emphasis.  This  disorder,  grounded  sometimes  in 
the  peculiar  makeup  of  certain  individuals,  when 
it  cannot  be  avoided  by  well-balanced  work  in  the 
church,  may  be  overcome  by  enthusiastic  mission- 
ary enterprise,  or  else,  in  chronic  cases,  some  form 
of  asylum  or  isolation  is  its  only  riddance.  Sec- 
tarian bigotry,  a  disease  so  often  charged  to  the 
presence  of  dogma  and  creed,  is  more  often  simple 
adherence  to  some  select  social  grade  or  group. 

We  are  not  living  in  a  theological  age.  Relig- 
ious indifference,  the  most  commonly  observed 
problem  of  the  church,  is  the  failure  of  religious 
interest  where  moral  and  social  strength  still  per- 
sist. This  decadence  calls  for  stronger  leadership 
in  spiritual  work,  a  revival  of  the  prophetic  in 
preaching,  and  of  direct  missionary  enterprise  by 
the  church.  Even  the  religiously  destitute  neighbor- 
hoods can  be  made  to  respond  to  sufficiently  broad, 
charitable,  but  genuine,  missionary  endeavor  from 
nearby  churches.  The  New  England  problem  in  its 
last  analysis  is  theological-  not  a  problem  of  defi- 


cient theology,  but  of  too  much  of  it — speculation 
at  the  expense  of  religious  vitality.  Theological 
thought  is  productive  of  good  character  only  in 
soil  that  is  watered  by  personal  service  and  relig- 
ious devotion. 

The  practical  solution  of  country-church  problems. 

The  practical  solution  of  the  existing  spiritual 
problems  of  rural  society  is  the  vital  point.  Though 
some  have  lost  faith  in  the  country  church,  in  its 
stress  or  adjustment  to  our  dawning  social  age, 
and  which  too  often  has  become  the  enslaved  sub- 
ject of  the  unworthy,  nevertheless  the  country 
church  is  monitor,  as  it  always  has  been,  of  the 
moral  and  religious  strength  and  growth  in  rural 
life.  When  the  true  place  and  worth  of  the  coun- 
try church  becomes  recognized,  the  agricultural 
people  will  be  reminded  through  the  agricultural 
colleges,  in  the  granges  and  farmers  institutes, 
and  by  the  agricultural  press,  of  their  delinquency, 
or  at  least,  of  their  own  privileges  and  duties. 

According  to  the  present  temper  of  society,  every 
force  which  proposes  to  uplift  mankind  organizes 
itself.  Thus,  in  the  solution  of  the  country-church 
problem,  we  must  look  to  the  organized  agencies. 
In  this  regard,  much  is  to  be  expected  from  the 
increased  instruction  in  the  principles  and  needs  of 
rural  life  at  the  agricultural  and  theological 
schools.  Organized  evangelism  is  a  force  of  leading 
promise.  The  renewed  impetus  of  the  Sunday- 
school  movement  and  the  reenforced  work  of  home 
missions  are  most  encouraging.  The  National 
Federation  of  Churches  stands  at  the  head  of  the 
leading  spirit  of  the  age.  Cooperation  between  the 
school,  the  grange  and  the  church  is  coming  to  be 
a  most  effective  coincident  of  social  organization. 

But  there  is  one  movement  that  is  a  leader  in 
the  religious  and  moral  betterment,  especially  of 
the  country  life  of  America.  This  is  the  County 
Department  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion. The  work  of  the  County  Department  is 
important  because  it  touches  so  many  points  of 
actual  need  and  because  its  principles  are  funda- 
mental. This  department  was  founded  by  Mr. 
Robert  Weidensall  in  1889.  The  occasion  of  its 
formal  beginning  was  the  employment  of  the  first 
county  secretary  for  Edgefield  county,  South  Caro- 
lina. The  work  of  this  department  of  the  general 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  movement  is  now 
established  in  twenty  states  and  provinces,  fourteen 
of  which  employ  secretaries  for  supervision.  There 
are  thirty-nine  organized  counties,  thirty-seven  of 
which  employ  secretaries.  The  county  work, 
through  its  secretary,  often  reaches  churchless 
communities  to  inspire  and  uplift  its  boys  and 
young  men,  but  where  country  churches  exist  they 
are  always  used  as  the  center  and  the  basis  of  the 
work. 

This  department,  supplementary  to  the  church, 
supplies  the  greatest  spiritual  need  of  the  average 
rural  town — religious  vitality.  The  country  min- 
ister is  brought  into  active  touch  with  the  environ- 
ment that  strengthens  him  at  the  strategic  point 
of  leadership  with  the  country  boys  and  men. 
Men,    not   material   equipments,   are   brought    to 


COOPERATIVE   FIRE   INSURANCE   AND   TELEPHONES 


303 


supply  the  personal  needs  of  men.  Personal 
strength  at  work  in  personal  religious  service  is 
the  keynote  of  the  movement.  The  principle  of 
balance  is  well  observed.  Not  only  is  the  work 
interdenominational,  but  its  physical,  social  and 
educational  phases  are  not  neglected.  The  exten- 
sive statistical  work  of  the  movement,  though 
practical  first  of  all,  is  of  leading  scientific  value. 
Of  the  nearly  five  thousand  men  enrolled  in  Bible 
study  the  past  year,  700  adopted  the  religious  life. 
This  movement  under  its  national  and  state  super- 
vision is  capable  of  organizing  within  a  few  years 
sixteen  hundred  counties  in  the  United  States. 

Literature. 

There  is  no  very  satisfactory  literature  as  yet 
upon  the  country  church  and  its  practical  prob- 
lems. The  statistics  gathered  by  Bible  societies, 
Sunday-school  associations,  the  denominations  for 
their  year-books,  and  by  the  county  department  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations,  are  to 
form  the  basis  for  useful  conclusions  as  soon  as 
they  may  be  given  scientific  treatment.  Neverthe- 
less, many  phases  of  the  rural  church  question 
have  been  worked  out  in  reports,  printed  addresses 
and  magazine  articles  of  value.  Omitting  notice 
of  writings  of  general  church  interest,  a  few  of 
the  leading  articles  on  the  country  town  and  church 
will  be  given  :  Wilbert  L.  Anderson,  The  Country 
Town  (New  York,  1906);  Alfred  Williams  Anthony, 
The  Problem  of  the  New  England  Country  Church 
(Homiletic  Review,  July,  1899);  James  E.  Boyle, 
The  Passing  of  the  Country  Church  (The  Outlook, 
March  28,  1904);  Kenyon  L.  Butterfield,  Chapters 
in  Rural  Progress  (Chicago,  1907);  Samuel  W. 
Dike,  The  Religious  Problem  of  the  Country  Town 
(Andover  Review,  August,  1884 ;  January,  June  and 
September,  1885);  Daniel  Dorchester,  The  Relig- 
ious Situation  in  New  England  (Methodist  Review, 
November,  1894);  W.  Stanley  Emery,  Five  Years 
of  Country  Settlement  Work  (Pamphlet,  Tiltonr 
N.  H.,  1905);  Henry  Fairbanks,  The  Needs  of  the 
Rural  Districts  (Address  delivered  before  the  Bos- 
ton Conference  of  the  Christian  Alliance,  December 
4,  1889 ;  pamphlet) ;  Henry  Fairbanks,  The  Prob- 
lem of  the  Evangelization  of  Vermont  (Minutes  of 
the  Ninety-first  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Ministers  and  Churches  of  Vermont ;  pam- 
phlet ;  Montpelier,  Vt.,  1887);  Rollin  Lynde  Hartt, 
A  New  England  Hill  Town  (Atlantic  Monthly,  Vol. 
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Outlook,  March  3, 10, 17,  31, 1906);  Charles  E.  Hay- 
ward,  Institutional  Work  for  the  Country  Church 
(Burlington,  Vt.,  1900);  Charles  Richardson  Hen- 
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Rural  Town  Decadence  in  Connecticut  (Address 
delivered  before  the  New  Haven  Ministers'  Meet- 
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Hyde,  Church  Union  a  Necessity  (Forum,  April, 
1893);  Impending  Paganism  in  New  England 
(Forum,  June,  1892);  and,  The  Transformation  of 
New  England  :  Is  It  Decay  or  Development  ?  (Forum, 
March,  1893);  Albert  J.  Kennedy,  Religious  Over- 


lapping (Independent,  April  9  and  May  7,  1908); 
G.  T.  Nesmith,  The  Rural  Church  (American  Jour- 
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Country  Churches  in  New  England  (Princeton 
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thera  Sacra,  April,  1890). 


COOPERATIVE   FIRE   INSURANCE  AND 
TELEPHONES 

By  Fred  W.  Card 

Farm  buildings  are  peculiarly  liable  to  damage 
from  fire.  Lightning  and  lanterns  are  responsible 
for  a  large  percentage  of  this  loss.  The  severe 
summer  thunder  showers  that  frequently  occur 
when  barns  are  filled  with  heated  hay  and  grain 
are  responsible  for  many  fires  at  that  season  of  the 
year.  As  winter  approaches,  with  its  shortened 
daylight  hours,  lanterns  must  be  brought  into  use 
in  the  night  and  early  morning.  Accidents  with 
these  are  inevitable,  and  inflammable  material  is 
ready  at  hand  when  they  do  occur.  Furthermore, 
few  facilities  for  fighting  fire  are  to  be  found  on 
most  farms. 

Mutual  fire  insurance  companies. 

These  conditions,  with  their  consequent  losses, 
have  led  the  old-line  insurance  companies  to  dis- 
criminate against  farm  property  ;  rates  have  been 
advanced  or  risks  entirely  refused.  As  a  result  of 
this,  mutual  companies  have  gained  much  headway 
in  farming  communities.  In  Iowa  alone,  there  are 
153  county  mutual  companies,  and  sixteen  state 
mutual  companies  reported  for  the  year  1906. 
When  properly  managed,  these  companies  have  given 
excellent  satisfaction,  providing  insurance  at  con- 
siderably less  expense  than  the  old-line  companies 
and  affording  a  greater  feeling  of  security  to  their 
members.  Being  managed  by  farmers  and  neigh- 
bors, the  party  insured  feels  that  there  is  less  like- 
lihood of  attempts  to  avoid  payment  being  made 
in  case  of  loss. 

During  the  ten  years  previous  to  1906,  the  risks 
in  force  by  mutual  companies  in  the  state  of  Iowa 
have  shown  a  steady  growth  from  $190,466,908.61 
in  1897  to  $457,407,488  in  1906.  The  risks  written 
during  that  .year  represented  move  than  one-fifth 
of  the  entire  insurance  business  of  the  state.  In 
Pennsylvania,  the  mean  amount  in  force  in  1906 


